Page 33 of The Bet
And then the brainwave of an idea came to him. “I can come over and help keep an eye on Jacob, if that helps.”
Fuck, yes. That would do it.
He’d been wondering how he was going to run into Izzy in a way that wasn’t so obvious. For starters, he’d heard her tell someone that she didn’t drink, so it wasn’t as if he could take her out to The Oasis any time soon. Not that she would want to go anywhere withhim. But this, looking after Jacob for a couple of weeks, would be enough to get him started. It would be enough time for him to win her over and show her what a catch he was.
“That’s real kind of you,” Savannah replied.
“We’ve got a whole team of people keeping an eye on him,” said Tobias.
“Izzy, hopefully, and my parents, and he’s at school, too, so that helps,” Savannah explained.
“But I would love to spend some time with the little dude on the weekend. I’d like to get to know him better.” He coughed. “We went to the waterfall earlier. It was fun.” At least, Jacob had fun.
“Who’swe?” Tobias asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. Xavier knew exactly what his brother was getting at. “You, Jacob andIzzy?”
“She asked me to come along.” Trust Tobias to make such a comment. “You can check with her if you don’t believe me.”
“That’s not necessary,” Savannah interjected. “Izzy’s nice, and friendly. And I know Jacob would have wanted you along.”
It didn’t go unnoticed, the way Savannah shot a glance at her husband. It was in that moment that Xavier knew, if he was to make any headway, in anything, and especially with this bet of his, he had to focus his efforts on Savannah for it was her who made the rules, especially where Jacob was concerned. Because as long as Savannah was around, she could tame Tobias. This was something to bear in mind.
“Jacob’s a good kid,” he replied, speaking to Savannah and avoiding eye contact with his brother. “With you guys being away, it would be nice for Jacob to have some male company, don’t you think?” He didn’t have any idea where Jacob’s father was, but sensing that male company might have been lacking in his upbringing, he knew this was a good way to win Savannah over.
“That’s so nice of you, Xavier.” She turned to Tobias. “That’s sweet, isn’t it?”
Tobias looked at him as if there were other, more suspect reasons for Xavier wanting to spend time with Jacob. It was eerie, the way his brother could sometimes see right through him.
“Uh-huh.” It was a typical Tobias response, and he took it to mean that he could.
Savannah explained how tomorrow Jacob would return to New York with her parents and Izzy, and that she would then find out what Izzy had decided to do.
Xavier hoped she would take the offer of babysitting Jacob, because, if she didn’t, he’d be stuck with the kid on weekends, but if she did, his work was going to be super easy. Those college students were poor, mostly, unless they were trust fund kids, and Laronde didn’t look to him like one of those.
All he had to do was to wine and dine her, show her some good times, and she’d be in his bed in no time.
